Lions to hold joint sessions with Raiders, Giants

The Detroit Lions will conduct a pair of joint training camp practices in advance of their first two preseason games, the team announced Friday.

The Lions will hold separate sessions with both the Oakland Raiders and New York Giants during the first two weeks of August.

Detroit will head to Napa, Calif., to train with the Raiders on Aug. 7 and 8 prior to its exhibition opener at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Aug. 10.

The Lions will return home the following week to host New York on Aug. 14-16 before clashing with the Giants on Aug. 17 at Ford Field.

It will mark the third consecutive year the team has held joint training camp sessions. The Lions worked out with Indianapolis last year and visited the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2016.

First-year head coach Matt Patricia participated in such joint sessions while he was serving as defensive coordinator with the New England Patriots.

"I think any of those situations that are advantageous to help you evaluate your team, especially in training camp or be able to maybe change the scenery of training camp is always a good idea, if it works out," Patricia told the Detroit News earlier this spring. "It's always about improving, so those are tough situations. ... Everything's highly competitive, but you're really trying to get good evaluations of your players through those types of situations."